The deepest image of the X-ray sky
The eROSITA telescope has finished its first sweep across the sky and presents us the deepest image of the X-ray that humanity has ever seen. This map is about 4 times deeper than what has been seen by the ROSAT all-sky survey 30 years ago and contains over 1 million hot objects, like binaries, supernova remnants and active galaxies. Over the next 3.5 years, eROSITA will continue surveying the sky and create such an all-sky image every half year. The final map, with all individual images combined, will have an even higher sensitivity, which will used by astrophysicists and cosmologists in the next decades to unveil the hot and energetic universe.
The X-ray sky seen through eROSITA eyes from 0.3 to 2.3 keV. © Jeremy Sanders, Hermann Brunner and the eSASS team (MPE); Eugene Churazov, Marat Gilfanov (on behalf of IKI)
The Carina nebula and its stellar environment (red: 0.2-0.5 keV, green: 0.5-1.0 keV, blue: 1.0-2.0 keV). © Manami Sasaki (Dr. Karl Remeis Observatory/FAU), Davide Mella
The Dr. Karl Remeis observatory is a part of the Collaboration and works on both extragalactic and galactic X-ray sources, like the Carina nebula.
The Carina nebula is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in the Milky Way and hosts a large number of massive, young stars. The brightest of these stars (also in X-rays) is Eta Carinae.
For the full press release, check out the MPE Press Releases.
For more information about eROSITA and the X-ray sky, please contact:
Manami Sasaki
Manami.Sasaki@fau.de
+49 951 95222 19
Jörn Wilms
Joern.Wilms@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
+49 951 95222 13